Typically the cruelest month for stocks, Wall Street indexes recorded monthly wins to close out the last trading day of September. Notably, the S&P 500 notched its best year-to-date performance at September's end since 1997. The S&P also enjoyed its best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021.

The S&P 500 sputtered to a record high close on Monday, rebounding from a brief setback after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank is in no hurry to implement further interest rate cuts.